Vintage Suitcase: Modern Country Style

So...where were we before I so rudely had to dash away yesterday...? I'm sorry to keep breaking up our lovely chats. Thank you for waiting so patiently for me.

That's right.....vintage suitcases.

Did you like my li'l homage to these beauties? Weren't there some amazing uses for upcycling? I love the idea of giving new life to old pieces. LOVE. L.O.V.E. Really, reeeeally like this idea. Taking the best of really well-made things that have bags of character and giving them a whole new function for today's life. It's a huge part of what Modern Country Style is about......what my style is about.....

I have my mother's old suitcase and, instead of keeping it with the other more modern suitcases that we have in the attic, I like to keep this one at the end of our bed.

I love the old, battered leather against the soft glow of the mahogany.

I only like using vintage items if they have a real function for our family life NOW. I don't just like vintage for vintage's sake. It has to have function AND beauty to earn it's keep.

Yes, I'm a hard task-master. Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen is my house mantra.

I use this suitcase for storage. What did I tell you? Function AND beauty...

I wanted a place to keep winter bedding in the summer, summer bedding in the winter, spring bedding in the....oh, you get it?!

You want me to stop going on and show you inside?

I can't believe you guys sometimes!

Alright, just this once....

See? This is our summer throw....

Vintage Suitcase. Two words....but don't they conjure up such glamorous images?

Aaaahhhh....


I really struggled to get the right bedside table for our...errr...bedside. After looking and looking, I decided to paint my own. Yes, shock, horror, I finally tackled a paint project!!

I'll share all the gory details with you next time...

I'm linking to parties in my sidebar...

Tutorial: Vintage-Style Button Heart Piped Cushion final installment!!!

Look at what I made!! Yippee!



Welcome to the final part of the tutorial for this Modern Country Cushion. It's time to put all the pieces together! This is the best bit, I think. You're so near the end! So exciting! So close to seeing the final result!

Step 1

Put your front piece of your cushion on top of back piece,  pretty sides facing each other.

See? How easy can it be?



Step 2

Remember your piping that you unpicked from the sofa seat cushion? Now is it's chance to shine! You don't need to make your own, which isn't hard, exactly, just time-consuming. You can just use this pre-prepared piping (try saying that five times fast!).

See the piping cord encased in the same material? Saves a LOT of work!

Lay it around the outside of the square, one inch/2.5cm in from the edge,with the rounded part of the piping facing inwards, towards to centre of the square.

Pin through the top layer, piping and bottom layer.

 Pin in place, again one inch/2.5 cm in from the edge, all the way around.....

.  

...and repeat....

....until it looks like this:

See the bump of the piping under the top layer?

Step 3

Carefully sew around the edge of the square over your pins. I used the zipper foot on my sewing machine as you really need to sew as close as you possibly can to the enclosed piping cord to give you a neat finish. Turn the right way around.



This is why you need to sew close to the piping. Otherwise you get a nasty gap here.



Step 4

If the corners aren't lying comfortably, trim a little of the seam allowance on the inside to reduce bulk





   Step 5

Do a little song and dance around the room and show everybody you know and, hey, why not some poeple you don' t know, your lovely new Modern Country cushion!!

The gorgeous button-y front

  

 Yippeeeeeeeee!

The equally gorgeous button-y back

 A Final Note:

I could not believe my ears when some of you said that you're nervous of your sewing machines. You are Super Women! You do so much other stuff.....sanding down endless pieces of furniture, making your homes look gorgeous, wielding power tools (yes, I'm talking to you ;-) ). There's nothing to be nervous of......really! It's only practice which brings confidence, not some secret skill. I'm by no means a trained seamstress. I didn't learn at my mother's knee. It really is just practice.If it goes wrong, you can just unpick and redo. No big deal.

I've got just the place for this Modern Country Cushion, now the nights are drawing in. All will be revealed shortly.

{So, tell me, when was the last time you used a sewing machine? What did you make? Were you pleased with it? Do let me know.}

  


I'm linking to some parties on my sidebar. Come and join in!

Tutorial: Vintage-Style Button Heart Piped Cushion part 2

Button heart panel

Today is day 2 of the tutorial for the Piped Heart Button Cushion. I'm so enjoying showing you how to make this cushion.

Are you up to scratch with your cushion-making?! Did yesterday's post encourage you to edge nearer to your sewing-machine? Do let me know if you did. Or, for that matter, if it didn't. No lurking, remember?!!

Now, Modern Country Stylers, onto the back of the cushion. There are various different kinds of ways to seal in the cushion inner. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a sucker for mother-of-pearl buttons so I've used an envelope backing buttoned up with three of these beauties (plus, shhh, don't tell anyone, but I haven't got to grips with zips yet)..

This is what to do....

Step 1

Remember the old sofa seat cushion? We need two more pieces from that. Cut out two rectangles from the original cushion seat material.. They both need to be 22''/55cm by 13.5''/33.75cm (this includes seam allowances). 

Step 2

Take one of the rectangles and turn up 1'' (or 2.5cm) once and then twice on one of the shorter sides. Pin in place and then sew shut. Do exactly the same with the other rectangle. I've added the extra fold of seam allowance here because this is where the buttons will attach so it needs extra strength.

Step 3

 

Onto this newly-rolled edge, sew three button holes the size of your buttons. One in the middle and the other two should be 4''/10cm or so in from the edge.

Sew your buttons on at the corresponding places on the other rolled edge and then do them up.

And that, boys and girls, is where I must love you and leave you today. Next stop, piping: the easy way.

{How are you getting on? Have I tempted you into having a go yet?}

Tutorial: Vintage-Style Button Heart Piped Cushion part 1

 Ever have a Eureka moment? It struck me that, with a bit of rejigging, I could use our old sofa seat cushions to make this really fab Modern Country button heart cushion for next to nothing.


Inspiration cushion - no longer available



Wanna see how? Come with me....

This is what you'll need:

Sofa seat cushion

Calico panel

Buttons

Sewing equipment

Step 1:

Unpick the seams of seat cushion. Keep the piping, and the square top and bottom. Discard the strip with the zip that wrapped around the middle.

Step 2:

Take one of the large squares of fabric and cut out a 20''/50cm-sided square size plus 1''//2.5 cm  seam allowance all round. Put to one side.

When cutting out material, these are your best friends: a rotary cutter, a cutting mat and a clear rule. You'll get much better straighter and cleaner cutting than with scissors.

Step 3:

Take a piece of calico (I used an old cream curtain lining), iron it and put it in an embroidery ring. This will help get the buttons spaced evenly as it pulls the material taut.

Step 4:

 Sew on mother-of-pearl buttons in a heart shape. I found it easiest to put a pencil dot at the top, bottom and widest point of the sides of where I wanted the heart to go. I started at the bottom and worked my way up.

 Step 5:

Take the calico out of the embroidery ring and cut it to a 10''/25cm square plus 0.5''/1cm seam allowance. Turn under and pin the seam allowance. Press flat. Please don't skip the pressing steps when you make something. It's simply miraculous the great results it gives. 

  

Step 6:

Attach the calico panel in the centre of the larger square you put aside earlier using small discreet stitches called, I think, hem stitch.

Step 7:

Sew larger mother-of-pearl buttons to the corner of the calico sqaure.

I hope you've got your scissors to the ready. I'll stop there for now to let you catch up. Come back tomorrow for the assembling of the cushion.

{So....what do you think so far? Do you think you might you have a go? }

Kenwood Chef nostalgia.....

When I was a little girl, I can remember standing on a chair next to my mother while she was cooking. She would tell me that her mother had a Kenwood Chef and had bought one for her when she got married, and that when I was a big girl, my mother would buy one for me.


Well, now I am a big girl (!), I do have one of my own. My parents bought one for me (thank you!) when I got married. I felt very grown-up when I unpacked my Kenwood Chef and put it, in pride of place, in my very own kitchen in the first placed we lived.


If I had to rescue one thing out of my whole entire kitchen ('whole entire kitchen'? That makes it sounds as though I have about three acres of kitcheness....! Errrr.....I don't), then it would most certainly be this:



And now, when I'm with my own daughters, I tell them, when we're cooking together, the story of how Grandma's Mummy bought her a Kenwood Chef and my Mummy bought me one and how when they are big girls, I will buy them their very own Kenwood Chef.
And I'm not ashamed to say that it quite often brings a tear to my eye.

Modern Country Kitchen accessories

I'll start off with some Thank Yous, if I may. A rather formal start, I know, but nothing wrong with a bit of formality where formality's due.


First of all, a big thank you to those of you who are taking the time to comment and follow Modern Country Style. I know I always say this but it does mean so much when someone I've never met wants to see what I've been doing and, more to the point, LIKES it and then follows in anticipation of what's coming next!

I'm so happy to see the Followers numbers rising. Thank you especially to the new followers for letting me know that you've followed. It means the whole writing thang takes on new meaning. It's more like writing to friends. Having a good old natter. And there's few things I like more than a good old natter with my pals. Don't you agree? If you do, then please will you Follow too? Just click on that there button to your right.

Thank you very much to Tattertots and Jello for picking out Modern Country Style from the Weekend Wrapup party. I'm over the moon to have my Modern Country Kitchen post up there in BIG. Where else but blogland would you get praise from a (very kind) stranger for how you've painted your kitchen?

And lastly, thank you to Mrs Sutton for tagging me. I will get on with replying...honest!

So now that the formalities are over, let's get back to the kitchen. I said in my last post that I always like to hold back from putting out all the things that complete the room I've done up until the room is One. Hundred. Per. Cent. completed (no cheating, mind...yes, Mrs Modern Country, I'm talking to you.....I am prone to a bit of cheating, it's true).

You might have spotted a few bits and bobs on Friday's kitchen reveal but I wanted to show you close up now we're such firm friends. I've tried to use pops of red throughout the kitchen. I love the combination of the Farrow andBall Blue Grey with red. So Modern Country!!


I hope you've enjoyed this lengthy snoop around my new kitchen. Isn't snooping lovely?! I love a good lazy nose around other people's blogs, don't you?!